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Italian Mavericks: A Deal With The Italian: The Italian's Deal for I Do / A Pawn in the Playboy's Game / A Clash with Cannavaro
Elizabeth Power
CATHY WILLIAMS
Jennifer Hayward
A proposition that’s impossible to resist…To regain control of the fashion empire that’s rightfully his Rocco Mondelli must prove his playboy days are over. His secret weapon? Supermodel-in-hiding Olivia Fitzgerald…and the power to get his revenge on her if she declines to play his loving fiancée!*Alessandro Falcone is notorious for winning – in every pursuit. Laura Reid is the opposite of the glossy women Alessandro usually favours but her voluptuous figure and fresh-faced innocence has an allure that makes her all the more of a challenge…*Italian billionaire Emiliano Cannavaro knows everyone has their price… Especially Lauren Westwood, the sister of his brother’s duplicitous wife, and the only woman to ever come close to melting his cool defences!
About the Authors (#u2f038bdc-aa8b-55ce-8958-6eda5adf9691)
JENNIFER HAYWARD has been a fan of romance since filching her sister’s novels to escape her teenage angst. Her career in journalism and PR, including years of working alongside powerful, charismatic CEOs and travelling the world, has provided perfect fodder for the fast-paced, sexy stories she likes to write—always with a touch of humour. A native of Canada’s East Coast, Jennifer lives in Toronto with her Viking husband and young Viking-in-training.
CATHY WILLIAMS can remember reading Mills & Boons as a teenager, and now that she is writing them she remains an avid fan. For her, there is nothing like creating romantic stories and engaging plots, and each and every book is a new adventure. Cathy lives in London, and her three daughters—Charlotte, Olivia and Emma—have always been, and continue to be, the greatest inspiration in her life.
ELIZABETH POWER wanted to be a writer from a very early age, but it wasn’t until she was nearly thirty that she took to writing seriously. Writing is now her life. Travelling ranks very highly among her pleasures, and so many places she has visited have been recreated in her books. Living in England’s West Country, Elizabeth likes nothing better than taking walks with her husband along the coast or in the adjoining woods, and enjoying all the wonders that nature has to offer. You can visit her at www.elizabethpower.net. (http://www.elizabethpower.net)
Italian Mavericks: A Deal with the Italian
The Italian’s Deal For I Do
Jennifer Hayward
A Pawn in the Playboy’s Game
Cathy Williams
A Clash with Cannavaro
Elizabeth Power
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09515-0
ITALIAN MAVERICKS: A DEAL WITH THE ITALIAN
The Italian’s Deal For I Do © 2015 Harlequin Books S.A A Pawn in the Playboy’s Game © 2015 Cathy Williams A Clash with Cannavaro © 2014 Elizabeth Power
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#ub497ab42-0697-5c08-ab29-ad0c0261aded)
About the Authors (#uf6d107cf-67b6-517c-ad13-88f973ab674e)
Title Page (#ufd5e6819-3888-575a-9c13-68f8fd6c46f6)
Copyright (#uf4fdba8b-5c29-5b07-ac32-b2ea5a7ef87e)
The Italian’s Deal for I Do (#u31230b6d-cba1-59bb-8ac9-72878e049e5e)
Dedication (#u55a275ab-ddec-5ec3-89e6-a5bfd6a26ef0)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua06aca6a-c890-5c5b-9af1-191c0918dcc0)
CHAPTER TWO (#u5921a7c5-2cee-5dcb-93aa-a64ff53e469d)
CHAPTER THREE (#u63489dc0-6316-51f1-90f4-27b23bcace66)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u63b5e929-596b-5e3d-927e-22e017c60118)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u19211b46-70ed-5bf7-9c9d-bd1ee832c081)
CHAPTER SIX (#u523937ae-9e45-50d7-8354-2c0f56c3bae7)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#u3caaf1aa-bb4c-5cd8-83f4-4d7a9d2d863c)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#u5700efa7-fa8c-5846-a53d-4dae1924d7ea)
CHAPTER NINE (#ub426e0c5-8b9e-5eb1-8493-b1e2abc2895a)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
A Pawn in the Playboy’s Game (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
A Clash with Cannavaro (#litres_trial_promo)
Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
The Italian’s Deal For I Do (#u2f038bdc-aa8b-55ce-8958-6eda5adf9691)
Jennifer Hayward
To my editor Laura McCallen and fellow authors
Michelle Smart, Andie Brock and Tara Pammi,
who made the Columbia Four such a joy
to write! Memento vivere!
And for Valentina and your invaluable help
with the beautiful Italian language! Grazie!
CHAPTER ONE (#u2f038bdc-aa8b-55ce-8958-6eda5adf9691)
“HE WILL NOT make it through the night.”
The grizzled old priest had served almost a century of Mondellis in the lakeside village of Varenna. He rested his gnarled, weathered hand on the ornately carved knob of the inches-thick, dark-stained door of Giovanni Mondelli’s bedroom and nodded toward the patriarch’s two grandchildren. “You must say your goodbyes. Leave nothing unsaid.”
His gravelly tone was somber, weighted with the grief of an entire village. It cut through Rocco Mondelli like a knife, severing a lifeline, rendering him incapable of speech. Italian fashion icon Giovanni Mondelli, son of the Italian people, had been the father he’d never had. He’d been Rocco’s guiding influence when he’d taken his grandfather’s place as CEO of House of Mondelli and brought it kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century. Transformed it into a revered global couture powerhouse.
He could not be losing him.
Rocco’s heart sputtered to a stop, then came back to life in a brutal staccato that pounded against the walls of his chest. Giovanni was everything to him. Father, mentor, friend... He wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet.
His sister, Alessandra, grasped his arm, her knuckles white against the dark material of his suit. “I—I don’t think I can do this,” she stumbled huskily, her glossy brown hair tangled around her face, eyes wide. “It’s too sudden. I have too much to say.”
Rocco ignored the desire to throw himself on the floor and cry out that it wasn’t fair, like he had at age seven when he’d stood on the deck of a boat outside this window on Lake Como in a miniature-size suit, his big, brown eyes trained on his papa as he tossed his mother’s ashes into the brilliant blue water. Life wasn’t fair. It had nothing to do with fair. It had given him Alessandra, but it had taken away his beloved mother. Never could that be considered a fair compromise.
He turned and gripped his sister by the shoulders, breathing through the searing pain that gripped his chest. “We can and we will, because we have to, sorella.”
Tears streamed down Alessandra’s face, negotiating the crevices of her stubborn mouth. “I can’t, Rocco. I won’t.”
“You will.” He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head. “Gather your thoughts. Think of what you need to say. There isn’t much time.”
Alessandra soaked his shirt with silent tears. It had always been Rocco’s job as much as it had been Giovanni’s to hold this family together following the death of his mother and his father’s subsequent descent into gambling and drink. But he did not feel up to it now. He felt as though one of the breezes wafting in from the lake might fell him with a single, innocent, misplaced nudge. But giving in to weakness, into emotion, had never been an option for him.
He set Alessandra away from him and slid an arm around her shoulders to support her slight weight. His gaze went to the short, balding doctor standing behind the priest. “Is he awake?”
The doctor nodded. “Go now.”
His strong, sometimes misguided, but always confident sister trembled underneath his fingers as he led her into Giovanni’s bedroom. If the saying was true you could smell death in the air, it was not the case here. He could feel the warmth, the vital energy Giovanni Mondelli had worn like a second skin. That he had infused into every single one of his designs. He could hear the caustic bite of his grandfather’s laughter before it turned rich and chiding and full of wisdom. Smell the spicy, sophisticated scent that clung to every piece of clothing he wore.
It was Rocco’s eyes, however, that stripped him of any shred of hope. The sight of his all-powerful grandfather lost in a sea of white sheets, his vibrant olive skin devoid of color, snared his breath in his chest. This was not Giovanni.
He swallowed past the fist in his throat. “Go,” he urged Alessandra, pushing her forward.
Alessandra climbed onto the massive bed and wrapped her slim arms around her grandfather. The sight of Giovanni’s eyes watering was too much for Rocco to bear. He turned away, walked to the window and stared out at the lake.
He and Alessandra had flown the fifty kilometers from the House of Mondelli headquarters in Milan via helicopter as soon as they had heard the news. But his stubborn grandfather had been ignoring pains in his chest all day, and by the time they’d got here, there was little the doctors could do.
